


Don't Believe in Fairies

by alovinggirl



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 07:36:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10692606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alovinggirl/pseuds/alovinggirl
Summary: Amelia can see fairies and that's not a good thing.





	Don't Believe in Fairies

Amelia has been able to see things since she was small, things her mother warned her not to take notice. Things such as fairies, goblins, and ghosts. Her mother warned her that those who knew had their eyes dipped in acid and their voices ripped out their throats. 

Back then Amelia was a small child who did not know of acid or throats. So, she ignored the warnings as children tend to do. She danced with the will-o wisps and helped the brownies clean. It wasn’t until the fairies took notice of her mother that she began to care.

Her mother was a beautiful woman, as strong as she was passionate. She was the only one in her family born with the sight. However, her younger brother Francis befriended a boy named Gilbert whose family has had the gift for generations. He taught her the only three rules she needed to know. One, don’t stare at them. Two, don’t speak to them. Three, don’t ever attract their attention. She followed the rules to the letter but uncle Francis, who could not tell the difference between fae and human, did not.

One summer night, he came home drunk with Gilbert and a summer fae named Antonio. There was nothing her mother could do but smile and play along with the charade. She was angry, furious that Gilbert would allow this to happen but Gilbert was too drunk to notice what was real and not there. Once Gilbert sobered up, he too had to play the game. 

Francis, Gilbert, and Antonio fell into a fast friendship. Throwing caution to the wind, Gilbert confessed to Antonio about his sight. Amelia had never seen anyone smile as brightly as she saw Antonio that day. He asked if Francis knew too but Gilbert shook his head and warned him that Francis was completely human. Gilbert then caught Amelia’s eye. Antonio turned to her. In her panic she asked Gilbert who he was talking to. Gilbert lied for her and said it was his friend Tomato Man that only lovers of tomatoes could see. Amelia hated tomatoes and that was that.

But it was not that simple. It never is. Her mother fell for Antonio’s charm too. She was not foolish enough to reveal herself like Gilbert did. This time, it was the other way around. Antonio told her he was the Summer King in search of his successor and begged her to become fae. Her mother refused. For a human to become fae, they needed to sacrifice the heart of their most dearest to them. Amelia was her mother’s most precious treasure born of her purest love for a man who died in war. Amelia’s life was the only thing that kept her mother breathing.

Her mother promised her love but nothing more. Antonio had a bit of disdain for Amelia afterwards but she didn’t care. Antonio never really liked her anyway. 

Things then went from bad to worse in the form of Arthur. He was an old friend, a neighbor of uncle Francis, and a former lover of her mother. Arthur was like them but different. He could see the unseen and scare them away too. He was not afraid to speak or play with them. Her mother whispered that it was because he was like them but not. He had magic and that magic protected him from the harm the unseen could do. 

Arthur was dangerous. He knew her mother could see. He had known for a long time now. Even more, he enchanted Amelia with his stories. In turn, he enchanted his mother with his security and domesticity. 

Two beings fought for her love. Two beings tore her apart in the name of that love.

Her mother grew restless in their arms. Her mind slipped farther and farther away. Her eyes became dazed and unfocused. Days turned to weeks and months. One day she would have an apple in her hand. Then, weeks later, she would ask where her apple went. She could not wait for daylight, she could not wait for nightfall. She begged summer to hurry, she begged winter to stay. The only time she had found peace was at twilight during Autumn Equinox, and even that was fleeting.

One winter night, when the moon was full and Amelia was not quite old but not quite young, her mother woke her at midnight and drove them to the nearby lake. When they arrived, her mother took a picket axe out of the car and began to break the ice. 

Amelia, who was too young to understand, stood a bit on the side and watched her mother work. Whatever spell that took over her mother, Amelia would not break. It was the liveliest she had seen her in a long time. Her eyes were still far away but her body seemed more here than there.

Her mother mother stopped working on the devil’s hour. Snow began to fall. Her mother took out the pins holding her hair and stripped off all her clothes. Then, she knelt down and peeled off Amelia’s coat and shoes leaving her in her cotton lace nightgown and knee length white socks. 

Her mother glowed beautifully in the moonlight. She caressed Amelia’s cheeks and stared longingly at her. Her arms snaking around Amelia’s back, holding her in an embrace, and lifted her. They walked to the edge of the lake. 

“There’s no such thing as fairies,” her mother whispered and then she jumped into the water.

Amelia felt the cold immediately. A thousand needles pierced through her skin. Stinging water filled her lungs. She struggled in her mother’s arms to escape the intense temperature of the lake, hoping to find warmth on the surface.

For a moment, a single moment, horror dashed her mother’s eyes. Her daughter, her most precious treasure, was dying in her arms. 

It was during that brief moment of clarity that her mother let go. Amelia took advantage of the moment and swam away, leaving her mother in the abyss.   
By some miracle, she made it to land. She wanted to help. She wanted to walk to the car, grab her cellphone, and save her mother. But Amelia was shivering too violently to stand, much less walk. She was too wet and it was too cold. It was doubtful she would even live. A winter fairy watched curiously from behind the trees. Her mother’s words rang in her ears.

There’s no such thing as fairies.

From that moment to the funeral, nothing made sense. One moment she was wearing a blue dress, and the next it was red. She doesn’t remember screaming for her mommy. She doesn’t remember Francis trying to make her eat or Jeanne rocking her to sleep. Arthur was a blurred mess and Antonio never came. The only thing she felt was a hand, small and warm like hers. 

She knew it was not her hand. It was softer, more hesitant. That gentle hand heard her cry. She cried and cried for her mommy on that hand. The hand did not judge her. It did not tell her things were okay or made false promises. It only listened. 

On the day of the funeral, the hand handed her a mirror. It had snipped the pretty long hair her mother loved. She didn’t look like a young lady anymore, she looked like...

“You can pretend to be me,” Matthew said.

Amelia met his eyes. They were a soft lavender, kind and sweet and free of judgement.

She didn’t want to separate from Matthew after that. When Francis found them and tried to punish Matthew, Amelia cried. She clung to Matthew and made it so he didn’t have to leave. When Jeanne took her to the salon to fix it, she threw a tantrum until Matthew held her hand and promised to go too. 

For the next six months she clung to Matthew. Her, Matthew. She didn’t like it when he played with other kids or when they went to school and had different classes. One day Jeanne sat her down and explained that if she didn’t share Matthew, he might not want to be her cousin anymore. Little by little, Amelia let him go after that. It made Mattie happy and whatever made him happy made her happy.

Uncle Francis, aunt Jeanne, and Mattie were normal. They didn’t see things like she did. To them, there was no such thing as fairies. Uncle Francis would openly laugh at those who believed. Jeanne was kinder. She smiled tightly and nodded along trying to avoid her opinions. Mattie looked sadly at the other party but he was quiet and let other kids tell their piece. 

Amelia followed their example. If fairies didn’t exist, then there were no need for rules.  
The farce did not stop Amelia from occasional bouts of superstition. She bought a necklace to ward off evil eye. On bad days, she wore something blue for inner strength. She placed an oval mirror across the front door to reflect back a person’s true nature. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn’t. By the time she was 16, it hardly mattered. 

Gilbert, Arthur, and Antonio were still part of Francis’ life. They had come clean about their true natures a year ago. Gilbert saw, Antonio was, and Arthur was apparently a halfling. They had apparently pissed of a very important someone and now needed Francis’ help for some ritual or other. Amelia accidently walked in on them, a bowl of nachos in hand. They stared at her. Gilbert silently willing her to tell them too. By this time, Amelia was used to playing the ignorant fool and refused to let go of her illusion. She glared at him.

“I am not sharing my nachos,” Amelia said.

She later found out that pissed of someone turned out to be Ivan, King of the Winter Court. The problem was, Ivan was her friend. At first, she didn’t know he was one of them. He was in glamour when she saw him sitting alone on a bench. He looked so sad, so lonely, that she had to cheer him up. She sat next to him.

“Hey, you okay there buddy? You look kinda down.”

He looked up, and that’s when she noticed he was one of them. A powerful enough them that Amelia didn’t notice until she was up close and personal.

“My sisters,” he began, “are so weird.”

And the rest was history.

Amelia had thought about telling Ivan many times. He was good guy. He pretended he was human for her and listened to all her human problems. He was honest too. He made up hypothetical “stories” about fairies and asked her for advice about how their situation. It was nice. To pretend to be normal with someone else. The problem was that you can’t sustain a relationship with lies.

One cold winter evening, Amelia stayed out with her friends later than she planned. She hated winter, she’d told Ivan so. It reminded her of her mother and that frozen lake. Ivan had then asked her about christmas, skiing, and snowball fights. She smiled then and admitted she loved it, but only in day time. At night, her mother still haunted her thoughts especially on full moons. 

He now stood in front of her house, hidden from those who could not see. Amelia lowered her head as she walked passed and blew onto her hands.

“Amelia,” he said.

She glanced behind her and furrowed her eyebrows, making sure her line of sight stayed at his chest. She knew normal people sometimes reacted when they called out their name, almost as if they knew they were being talked about. After pretending she saw nothing, she turned back to the door.

He yanks her from behind. He angles her face closer to his.

“I’m sorry,” he says before he presses his lips onto hers.

It was that night all over again. She was drowning in the icy lake. She needed warmth. She needed air. She was too weak to walk or beg for help. Her mother’s words replaying over and over again in her mind. There’s no such thing as fairies. There’s no such thing as fairies.There’s no such thing as fairies.

The door swings open and Ivan lets Amelia go. She stumbles forward. It’s Matthew who catches her. 

“A gift for the new summer king,” Ivan says.

His arctic breath is still in her lungs, cutting through her heart and into her veins. 

“Who are you? What did you do to her?!” Matthew yells.

She’s hardly heard him speak above a loud whisper, and that’s exactly what it sounds like. His voice sounding so distant and far away.

“Just a winter kiss for his beloved niece.” Ivan replies.

Ivan disappears from Matthew’s sight. He seems ready to fight but Amelia’s legs give out, the stinging cold numbing them to the point she can’t stand on her own. Matthew falls gently with her, clutching her tightly to his chest. 

The sound of footsteps come from behind Matthew. Her fingers feel frozen, unmovable. Murmurs and words she can’t understand surround her. The world is blurring due to the ice forming on her lashes. She thinks she hears her lips blue. 

“Cold,” she whispers. The small act feeling like she’s swallowing a thousand needles.

Warm tears fall on her cheeks, Matthew’s tears. For Matthew, she’d swallow a thousand needles more but winter won’t allow it. Its frozen her to the core taking her body, her breath, her heart. She feels nothing. She is nothing. She sees Mattie, her Mattie, and thinks she wants to freeze him too.

She snakes her hand behind his head and pulls him toward her. She blows a kiss of her own into his mouth. Born to summer, he’ll live. Cursed to winter, he’ll serve.

She pulls away and sees Matthew’s dazed eyes. Together, they drown in the lake.


End file.
